River View Cemetery Historic Overview

River View Cemetery Historic Overview River View Cemetery, circa 1901 Prepared by George Kramer, M.S., HP Senior Preservation Specialist Heritage Research Associates, Inc. Eugene, Oregon October 2011 Heritage Research Associates Report No. 355 River View Cemetery Historic Overview Prepared by George Kramer, M.S., HP Senior Preservation Specialist Prepared for TyLin International 285 Liberty Street NE #350 Salem, OR 97301 and Multnomah County, Oregon Heritage Research Associates, Inc. 1997 Garden Avenue Eugene, Oregon October 2011 Heritage Research Associates Report No. 355 River View Cemetery - Historic Overview October 2011 Introduction River View Cemetery (sometimes mis-identified as Riverview) is a 300+ acre wooded and landscaped enclave located at the southwest corner of the intersection of Macadam Avenue and Taylor‟s Ferry Road, near the Sellwood Bridge, in Portland, Oregon. River View was established on land purchased by Henry W. Corbett and then sold on an interest-free note to the River View Cemetery Association, an organization formed by Corbett in association with Henry Failing, William S. Ladd and others. The Association adopted its initial bylaws on December 4, 1882 and remains a non-profit endowment care facility. “Owners of Interment rights in the cemetery become part of the River View Cemetery Association, thereby becoming owners of the cemetery” (River View, c2011). From its beginnings, River View Cemetery was seen as a major milestone in Portland‟s development; a beautiful, serene, well-designed and maintained final resting place for the city‟s dead. Its graceful, almost park-like, natural setting quickly became a popular recreational destination for Portlanders, complimenting the project‟s primary purpose. River View‟s design was a response to what is called the pastoral or “rural” cemetery movement, an approach toward burial places in the United States that began in the early 19th century with the Mount Auburn Cemetery, near Boston. The nation‟s appreciation of the natural landscape in art, fueled by the works of the Hudson River School and Romanticism, sparked a similar movement toward “natural” burial grounds that meshed perfectly with the elaborate rituals surrounding death and grief during the Victorian era. Although termed “rural” cemeteries in an effort to characterize their highly designed qualities as being natural, rural cemeteries were typically located in highly urbanized settings. Often pre-dating public parks, rural cemeteries like River View frequently became popular destinations for family picnics, Sunday strolls and other leisure activities (Ward, 2010). Prior to the construction of River View the citizens in Portland relied upon the Lone Fir Cemetery, in East Portland, for burials. East Portland, a separate city until 1891, was located across the Willamette River and the difficulties associated with transporting the dead and the grieving by ferry boat, coupled with new opinions on the proper setting for interments, led to Portland‟s growing interest in establishing a more attractive, and more convenient, burial ground of its own.1 As such, River View was an important step in Portland‟s maturing self-view of itself as the primary metropolis of the region. 1 The first Morrison Bridge, first span across the Willamette, was not completed until 1887, five years after River View was opened. - 1 - River View Cemetery - Historic Overview October 2011 With all due respect to the sacred ground of Lone Fir that holds so many loved ones, still it must be admitted that it is to a certain degree a primitive place....Its very inconvenience of access should be reason sufficient for a burying ground on this side of the river (Oregonian, 8-April-1883, 8:4-5). Founders River View‟s genesis was guided by the leadership of a veritable who‟s who of Portland business and culture, a group that assured the cemetery‟s status as a key element in the city. The original trustees of the River View Cemetery Association included, in addition to the previously mentioned Ladd, Failing and Corbett, luminaries such as Matthew P. Deady, Oregon‟s pioneer judge for whom the University of Oregon‟s Deady Hall is named. The founder‟s second generation was well represented by Henry J. Corbett2 and William M. Ladd. Edward Failing, Henry‟s younger brother and business partner, was also an original trustee. Upon the Association‟s formation, Henry W. Corbett served as the Association‟s president, with William S. Ladd as vice-president and William M. Ladd as treasurer. Edward Failing as appointed as the Association‟s clerk (River View, 1882). Brief biographies of the three primary founders the River View Cemetery, all of whom are interned in what is now called “Founders Grove,” follow. Henry W. Corbett (1827-1903) arrived in Portland in 1852 and opened a small mercantile business. He soon grew into one of the city‟s most prominent and affluent businessmen. Corbett served a term as one of Oregon‟s U.S. senators (1867-1873). In 1868 he acquired a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Portland. Corbett also served as President of the Willamette Steel and Iron Works as well as the Portland Hotel Company. Corbett also served on the Board of Directors for several of the city‟s powerful street railway companies and the Oregon Steam and Navigation Company, among many other prominent business and community organizations (Gaston, 1911:8-9). Upon Sen. Corbett‟s death, the Oregonian devoted a full page to his life and accomplishments, in addition to a front page article on his passing under a headline that “Portland‟s Foremost Citizen” had passed (Oregonian, 1-April-1903). “The labors of Mr. Corbett became an integral part of the history of Portland and this section of the country” (Gaston, 1911:22-26). William S. Ladd (1826-1893) came to Portland from Vermont in April 1851 and quickly rose in local prominence, becoming the city‟s fifth mayor in 1854-55. Ladd joined with a silent partner, Charles E. Tilton, a successful San Francisco businessman and friend,3 to form W. S. Ladd and Company in 1854. In 1859 the pair joined to form the Ladd 2 Henry J. Corbett own son, Henry L. Corbett, served twice as President of the Oregon Senate. Henry L. Corbett‟s mother was the daughter of William S. Ladd. 3 Ladd was betrothed to Caroline Elliot, Tilton‟s cousin from New Hampshire, whom he would later marry. - 2 - River View Cemetery - Historic Overview October 2011 and Tilton Bank, reported as Portland‟s first bank and the first north of San Francisco on the Pacific Coast. Ladd later joined with Asahel Bush to form the Ladd and Bush Bank, of Salem, another successful financial enterprise. Among his many business ventures, Ladd was active in the Portland Flour Mill, Oregon Iron Works, Oregon Steam Navigation Company, the Oregon Central Railroad Company and the Portland Hotel (Lansing, Oregon Encyclopedia). Today he is perhaps best remembered for his real estate effort in creating the characteristic plan of Ladd‟s Addition, in southeast Portland. “No individual character ever more fully apprehended and embodied the genius and possibilities of the Oregon that was to be than did he” (Oregonian, 10-January-1893). Henry Failing (1834-1898) arrived in Portland in 1851 and with his father, Josiah, built a store on Front Street, south of Oak, selling dry goods. By 1869 the Failing company was wildly profitable and Henry joined with Henry Corbett to purchase a controlling interest in the First National Bank of Portland. Failing served as the bank‟s president for the rest of life. In January 1871 Failing again joined with Corbett, consolidating their mercantile businesses into the firm of Corbett, Failing and Company. Failing was active in state politics and served three times as Portland‟s mayor. He later served as Chair of the Portland Water Commission, a position he held from 1885 until his death (Gaston, 1911:66-71). At Failing‟s death Portland‟s Mayor, W. S. Mason, ordered that “...as a token of respect for his many virtues, the flag will be raised at half-mast at City Hall” (Oregonian, 9-November-1898, 8:2). River View‟s three major founders not only brought the venture instant respectability and financial security, but considerable other benefits through their many interconnecting business ventures. By late-1888/early 1889, River View Cemetery was a sufficiently popular destination for Portland that one of its earliest trolley lines, operated by the Metropolitan Railway Company, began electric streetcar service to the cemetery. Metropolitan was capitalized at $200,000 with support from leading financial institutions, which of course included the banks that were owned and controlled by River View‟s influential founders. “Some Ladd & Tilton money also went into the venture, as access to the cemetery was essential to its founders, Ladd, Henry W. Corbett and Henry Failing” (MacColl, 1988:265). Within a year, by 1890, an intrepid Portlander could travel all the way from St. Johns to River View on a single fare (Labbe, 1980:67). As River View Cemetery came to be seen as the most desired final resting place for many of Portland‟s most prominent families, as many as fifty earlier burials at Lone Fir were disinterred and moved to the new, natural, cemetery. - 3 - River View Cemetery - Historic Overview October 2011 Landscape Design and Construction After Corbett, Ladd and Failing had secured “a proper location” for the cemetery, as described in the River View Cemetery Association bylaws as being “...sufficiently removed from the limits of town to prevent any apprehension of interference by the encroachments of increasing population,” they needed to design the site for its intended purpose. A diligent search and careful examination of every piece of ground within a reasonable distance has resulted in the selection of a tract on the west side of the Willamette River about three miles south of the city; the tract embraces portions of the donation land claims of Hector Campbell and Thomas Stephens and contains about two hundred and eighty acres.

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